Cancer diagnoses will double by 2050

ATLANTA -- The number of Americans diagnosed annually with cancer will double over the next 50 years, from 1.3 million to 2.6 million, according to a new study that warns of an intense burden on the health care system.

The expected boom reflects a population that will be larger and live longer -- rather than suggesting that cancer itself will become more menacing.

Government and private researchers analyzed census data and applied it to newly compiled cancer statistics to make the projections, which appeared in the journal Cancer.

The so-called cancer population will get older as it gets larger, according to the study. By 2050, more than 1.1 million people 75 and older will be diagnosed each year, up from about 400,000 today.

The increase in older cancer patients will require more cancer specialists who can treat them, the study warns.